Mind over Merton: What If
by Loonybin
Summary: hehe, remember the episode mind over merton? well here it is done very differently. just keep thinking what if... (P.S- Part Four is now up, I repeat, Part Four Is Now Up
1. Default Chapter

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(A/n- this story is a little out of sequence, but it still works. It takes place during the episode where Merton creates that genius serum because he's upset that he doesn't make it into that elite smart group. Y'know, then TnT drink the serum and become smart, so they end up catching Tommy at the dance. Only in this story they catch Tommy and Cass (also Tommy and Cass are going together, not Tommy and Lori, sorry). And in this story TnT don't become dumb in time to destroy the computer. I'll start right after Lori says "I'm not just going to leave you here"…)

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"I'm not just going to leave you here!" Lori grabbed a hold of the cage bars.

"Just go get Merton." I said, wolfing out.

"But…" She started to protest.

"Please." Pleaded Cass, she also started to turn.

Lori nodded and ran out of the classroom. Only a few seconds after she left the new and improved Tim and Travis walked in. 

"We've finally caught you, and an extra one." Said Tim excitedly. Travis held up something that looked like a little duster, he spread some powder around the bars of the cage, and started dusting.

"What're you doing?" Cass eyed the duster nervously.

"We can discover your identities easily with this." Travis looked up. "Very soon we will know the true names of the Pleasantville werewolves."

Cass looked like she wanted to throw up. I grabbed the bars trying to bend them. Immediately I had to pull back, the bars burned into my skin.

"Tsk, tsk." Tim wagged his finger. "Silver."

Just then I noticed Lori in the doorway. She peeked in and saw TnT, and backed away.

'Merton's in trouble' she mouthed quickly and pointed up the hall.

"Oh god." I moaned. "it's that stuff he made."

Meanwhile TnT were busy with the computer. 

"They hacked into the school logs." Cass whispered to me. "They're in the fingerprint files. The search is halfway done."

"We need Merton and Lori, we can't do anything from in here." I sighed.

"seventy percent." Cass hissed.

I noticed Lori back in the doorway, Merton was hanging onto her shoulder weakly. She gently put him down on the floor in the hall, then daringly walked in the room.

"Tim, Travis?" she said taking a breath.

They looked up from the screen. "Lori Baxter."

"shouldn't you be at the dance?" she asked lamely.

"The dance?" Travis laughed. "We've just caught the Pleasantville werewolves, and you want us to be at the dance?"

"Ninety." Cass's voice was shaking.

Lori took a look at the computer, and gasped.

"Ninety-nine." Cass closed her eyes. "Well Tommy, it's been real."

"Search complete." Announced the computer.

Tim and Travis eagerly turned from Lori and looked at the two names and pictures on the computer.

"Tommy Dawkins." Tim's eyes went wide.

"Cassandra Black." Travis turned to us.

"I don't suppose there'd be away to convince you that that computer has one hell of a virus." I asked.

"No Tommy, there wouldn't be." Tim savored every word of the sentence. "Anything to add Cassandra?"

Cass shook her head in silence. Lori tried to run up to the bars but Travis blocked her.

"Sorry, little lady but we don't want any other finger prints on the bars but theirs and ours."

"Tommy, Cass I'm sorry." She moaned. "But it was Merton, he fainted and I thought he was dead. It's a side affect of the genius serum, and I actually do think he's dying. He didn't get to finish the antidote gas." 

We looked at Merton who seemed to be clinging to life in the hall. 

"Lori is there anyway to get us out of here?" Cass cried.

She looked around. "The pulley for the cage is over there." She pointed to the corner of the room. TnT blocked her way.

"You guys cannot possibly be this awful." She glared at them.

"I'm calling the media right now." Was the answer to her question. Tim dialed some number on a cell phone. "Yes, hello. This is Tim Eckert (A/n- I don't know how to spell their last name, and I'm to lazy to go to the down stairs computer to get on the internet and find out right now, seeing as it's about 2:00 in the morning. So just bear with me…please!) we've caught the Pleasantville werewolves… that's right I said wolves, as in two. And we know who they are. Come to the high-school to find out." He hung up the phone smiling. "They're on their way."

Lori shook her head in disbelief. She walked back into the hallway to check on Merton sighing.

"My dad is a camera man with the local news." Cass groaned. "This is not good at all."

"My mom's the head reporter." I said.

"We are so screwed." She put her head in her paws. "Why would TnT do something like this? I mean I knew they were mean, but not this mean."

"Must've been that serum." I said shaking my head.

"He's getting worse." Lori called from the hall. "It's getting harder for him to breath. Tim I need your cell phone."

"I'm sorry…" In a flash Lori was up and had run into the room. she stood next to Tim with her hand balled into a fist.

"He's dying, don't you get that. He's dying. I need to call an ambulance, and I'm going to use your phone." She growled. "If you don't help me, you could be charged with 2nd degree murder. Now give me the damn cell phone."

Tim handed it over to her slowly, and Lori made the phone call. The ambulance said they'd be there within five minutes. Lori looked into the hall to check on Merton.

"Cass, Tommy. They're here. Almost the entire news crew." She moved to drag Merton's body out of the way. "And Tommy your mom's leading the procession."

"Wonderful." Cass said sarcastically. "Could our lives be any worse?"

"They're here." Reported Lori. She came into the room and stood unmoving, by the cage.

I took a deep breath as cameras, microphones, people, and my mom crowded into the room.

"I'm here at Pleasantville high where Tim and Travis Eckert claim to have once more caught the Pleasantville werewolf." My mom started reporting.

"We have caught them." Said Travis. "Look." All of the cameras swung towards us.

"And we have the identities." Tim showed them the computer.

The cameras swung towards the computer to show the whole town who the werewolves were. Cassandra heaved a sigh, and buried her head in my shoulder. I looked at the alarmed look on my moms face as she saw the computer.

"Tommy." She seemed to shake all over. "You boys have to be kidding."

"Cassandra." One of the camera men almost dropped a camera in alarm.

"It's no joke." Said Cass weakly.

"Mom, they're telling the truth." I said quietly.

TnT grinned while my mom fainted.

"Why aren't their heads doing double whammies on them?" Lori asked us softly while people crowded around my mom.

"The chemicals, they had to sit before you could digest them." Cassandra said.

"How do you know that?"

"I stay awake in science." She raised her eyebrows. See Cass wasn't content to only have looks, and skills, she had to have brains too. 

"I hear sirens." She continued. "the ambulance you called for Merton must be coming."

"God, I hope he's still ok." Lori bit her lip.

"Hey kid." A person who'd accompanied the new team yelled at Lori. "Get away from that cage. Those things could be dangerous."

Ok, I personally think the word 'thing' was a little harsh. Obviously Lori did to, because when she backed away from the cage she practically had smoke poring out of her ears.

"Thing?" Cass growled. "I'll show him thing." She tried to rattle the bars, but had to pull back.

"We need Merton." I said. "We need that antidote."

"I could finish it, but I need to get out of here." Said Cass through gritted teeth.

"How do you know all this about chemistry?" asked Lori. "You had biology."

"Well for the antidote you'd just need to put in the substances that counteract the stuff that you put in the first time. If I had Merton's recipe I could give you the ingredients." She explained.

"I'll see if I can coax it out of him." Lori turned and squeezed through the crowd. 

TnT were now being interviewed about how they'd caught us.

"And how'd you come up with this plan?" asked my mom, who'd still only mildly recovered.

"We're super geniuses. Nothing is to hard for us." Answered Travis pompously.

My mom nodded giving them weird looks.

"Listen, I'm wolfing-down." Cassandra muttered. "Who knows it might help."

She took a few breaths to calm down, and managed to turn back to human. I did the same,

"Oh my god, Tommy it really is you!" My mom screamed.

"Cassandra what happened?" asked her father.

"We might be able to explain better if you let us out." I suggested.

"Let them out." instructed some one.

Tim went over to the rope and pulled on it. The cage slowly lifted back up into the air. Cass and I walked out earning different looks from everyone.By now most of the people from the dance had streamed into the classroom and in the hall.

"Trust us, we're not gonna hurt anyone." Cass held her hands up in peace. "Put the guns down."

I'd heard the guns being loaded too. Sometimes having super hearing isn't so bad.

"I got the stuff." Lori ran into the room breathless. When she saw us standing outside of the cage her smile got even wider. "And Merton's at the hospital. They said he'll be fine." She paused. "Do they know?" she indicated to all the people standing around. We nodded.

"Well now that we have the Pleasantville werewolves what're we gonna do with them?" asked a student.

"I say we have a hunting season." Said Tim rubbing his hands together. 

"Hey," Cass's dad turned on him. "These happen to be our kids. Hunting season? You've gotta be kidding."

"Listen," called Lori. "they're not bad people, and they're not evil werewolves. Really they're just regular kids. Tommy was bitten at the beginning of his senior year and Cass was bitten by-" she stopped looking at Cass shaking her head. "Never mind. The point is that they're really good people and you really don't want to do anything to hurt them."

"Who was Cass bitten by?" asked a curious student. "Are there more werewolves in this town?"

This started an uprising of more noise. "tell us." Was chanted over and over.

"Just tell them." I told Lori.

"But then they'll-" she grimaced. "Fine you want to know." she yelled again. "She was bitten by Tommy, but…"

"Well then that proves it." Said a person. "They're evil, lets get rid of them."

~

(A/n- ack! I feel so bad about doing that to Tommy and Cass, but it's fun to write. Next part'll be up soon.)

-Loonybin


	2. Mind Over Merton: What If- Part Two

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Cass and I were in some seriously deep shit. We were now surrounded by a partially angry mob, and these kinds of mobs can be just as bad as fully angry mobs. The angry portion was slowly closing in on us, and the undecided part was just sitting back watching. Our parents were no help. My mom was in shock and Cass's dad couldn't get through the crowd.

"There's an open window over there." Cass jerked her head towards the wall.

"Cass we're pretty far off the ground."

"What's worse, being tortured by an angry mob, or a sprained ankle?" She made a break for the window. I followed her. It took a few seconds for the people to catch on.

"Hey, they're getting away!"

It was to late Cass and I were all ready falling to the ground. We landed on top of each other on the lawn by the side of the school.

"Wasn't that bad, was it?" Cass grinned standing up.

"You think this is funny?"

"Hell no." She looked serious again. "But that wasn't as bad as it could've been."

"We should go." I said looking up at the window. "They'll be coming out soon."

~

"I can't believe we're breaking into Merton's Lair."I said.

"He won't mind." Cass looked up from the lock she was picking. It clicked. "Got it."

She pulled open the door. As soon as we were inside I collapsed on the couch. I figured I deserved it after all that.

"So what're we gonna do now?"Cass sat down playing with Merton's python. "I suppose we could pray that every one in town gets amnesia."

"We could bite everyone until they're all werewolves, which would mean they'd have to accept us." Where had that come from? It came from me, but from where? Cass looked alarmed and jumped back.

"You did not just say that." She said sternly. 

"I don't know where that came from." I rubbed my temples. "its just stress speaking."

"I really hope so Tommy." Cass shook her head. "Because that's the side of you- of us- the mob is after."

There was a rattle at the door. "Guys they're coming." It was Lori's voice. I scrambled up from my seat to let her in.

"The mobs about a block back. TnT've equipped them with every thing and anything to defeat werewolves." She warned us. 

"See I told you telling them you bit me was a bad idea." Cass said sourly. "We're gonna end this now."

"Are you going to give yourself up?" asked Lori.

"Nope," Cass smiled a devil-may-care smile. "You're sending them after the real evil werewolves."

"Come again?" I said.

"Well they want to go after werewolves." Cass said disgustedly. "So we'll send them after the other werewolves."

I nodded. "The syndicate?"

"Exactly."

"Whoa," Lori waved her hands. "the syndicate would take them out, we'd end up loosing half the town. The syndicate wouldn't care about what werewolf killing weapons they have."

"It does seem kind of wrong. I mean half the school is with that mob; half the school could be killed." I said pointedly.

"Says the guy who just suggested biting the whole town." Cass muttered avoiding my eyes. 

"We'd better decide soon, even I can hear them getting closer." Lori looked nervously out the window.

"I say we send them after the syndicate, it would work." Cass insisted.

Cass looked at me then at Lori. It was decided.

"Lori go tell them about the syndicate." Said Cass slowly. "Direct them towards their head-quarters then leave. Don't get hurt."

"What of they don't believe me?" I think Lori was stalling.

"You're smart, you'll think of something." I smiled at her encouraging her. "I'm going head home, and see what's up there."

Lori took a minute to collect her and then headed out the door.

~

"Twenty people murdered, and fifteen injured. Thirteen reported missing." I turned my TV off. It was all too much. It was our fault that those twenty people were murdered, our fault that fifteen people were in the hospital and well as for those thirteen missing people, we could only assume that the syndicate had thirteen new members. This had not been one of our smarter moves. Nothing good came out of it. Everyone still knew about us and Lori was right, a good portion of the town was hurt.

On the plus side, Merton was out of the hospital. He'd left at about 1:00 in the morning, just as all the causalities from the mob had started coming in. the hospital reversed whatever he'd done to himself, so he wasn't a super genius anymore, Just very, very smart. 

I turned my TV back on. Now they were showing video from the fight. It was pretty bad. Even TnT with all they're smarts and weapons had had to retreat. Somehow it just didn't seem right that they'd escaped without a scratch.

"We don't know the whereabouts of Cassandra Black, but the other werewolf, Tommy Dawkins was reported to be back in his house at about 3:00 last night. Lori Baxter is also at her home. The police will probably be questioning her later, on her part in the massacre in the castle last night." 

'What had happened to Cass?' I wondered. I figured she might be in the forest. I couldn't go looking because I was on house arrest. The police had declared it earlier this morning almost as soon as I'd gotten home. My mom and dad had tried to fight it but the police chief said it was in the best interest of the citizens. So now I was just sitting on my bed trying to think of a way to get out without jumping out a window. I really wanted to see Merton, to see how he was doing, he was also pretty good for advice most times. But Cass worried me the worst. 

There was a knock on my door.

"Who is it and what do they want?" I called sourly.

"It's me Merton, and I just want to talk." Came the reply.

"It's open." I said in a much nicer voice.

Merton opened the door and walked in. He was holding two tubs of chicken from the Hungry Bucket.

"I heard what happened." He made a sympathetic face.

"How'd you get in?" I grabbed a piece of chicken.

"A lot of begging." He said. "So'd you hear?"

"If you're talking about the news reports, yes I've heard them." I said closing my eyes.

"Any idea where Cass is?" He asked. "They say she's missing."

"Maybe the forest, but that's all I can think of." 

Merton turned towards the TV. More fight images were playing. A guy I knew, Eric, was getting knocked out by a werewolf. Next came our pictures, Mine, Cass's, Lori's, and surprisingly Merton's.

"These four students had a tight bond." Said the reporter. "We can assume that they were all in this together."

"It's not like we were trying to get anyone murdered!" I shouted at the screen.

"They were over at my place this morning." Merton frowned. "They practically cleared out my Lair! They took all my lycanthropy books, my charts, even some of my computer files!"

"The media?'

"No, the police. I don't even think they had a warrant. They certainly didn't show me one when I asked." He rolled his eyes. "and Becky was no help at all, she told them every weird thing that's ever happened to me."

"We think the werewolves and their accomplices should be locked up." said some one on the news.

"And people like that aren't helping." I growled. "Imagine if this weren't a Saturday and it was a school day or something."

"I could probably break my own record of being stuffed in lockers." Merton joked. "Everyone would be doing it."

"Y'know I never thought that anyone would ever find out, besides you, Lori, and Cass." I sighed.

"The police have located Cassandra Black." Blared the newscaster. "She was found in the High school chemistry lab. Miss. Black has now been secured at her house under orders not to leave until further notice."

"I really don't get this house arrest thingy," I turned to Merton. "What's the point?"

"It's their way of feeling safe." Merton said. "They think that you and Cass are killing machines."

"We noticed." I said grimly. 

"Yeah, this morning when they came, they were asking me really stupid questions like: have they ever seriously injured you before? All they had to do was ask my parents if I've ever been to the hospital, answer: no, not before last night." Merton paced my room. "We've gotta do something to convince them that you guys aren't awful."

"After what we did last night, I'm not exactly sure that can be done." I said.

Merton took the remote from me and started flipping channels until he came to the worst, most horrible thing on television…Barney.

"Look," Merton pointed to the screen. "if those little kids can somehow manage to spend an entire half hour crowded around that stupid dinosaur, then anything's possible. So c'mon, let's go downstairs." 

Merton pulled me up off my bed, and we started out the room. He succeeded in pulling me down the stairs and into the kitchen. My parents weren't there. There was only the guard that stood at the back door.

"Where do you kids think you're going?" he asked as soon as we entered the kitchen.

"I'm just getting breakfast." I said. "Merton, you want anything?"

"I gorged on jello in the hospital, so no thanks." 

I was pouring orange juice when the phone rang. The guard jumped over to open it. I was going to say something to him but a look from Merton silenced me.

"That was Cassandra Black." The guard said curtly. "While you were up stairs Lori Baxter called."

I got up to use the phone, but the guard blocked it. "I'm sorry I can't let you do that."

Merton stood up. "But you can let me use it." He said. The guard stepped aside frowning.

"I'll call Lori first." Merton said dialing the number. He waited for it to ring. I stood by him and put my hands behind my back. When the guard wasn't looking I pressed the speaker button.

"Hello." Said Lori. The guard looked around startled.

"It does that automatically." I lied.

"Hey Lori." Merton answered. 

"I'm glad you're ok." She sounded relieved. "Where's Tommy?"

"He can't use the phone. He's on house arrest." Merton told her.

I paced the kitchen impatiently. The guard watched me carefully. Well of course it was just my luck that I tripped over the broom. I fell to the floor, and wolfed out. Suddenly I heard a gun cock. I looked up to see the guard aiming at me.

"Did I just hear a gun?" Came Lori's voice.

"Tommy sort of wolfed out." Merton glanced at me.

"No body move." Said the guard. He immediately cut off Merton's conversation by unplugging the phone.

"I'm not gonna do anything." I protested.

"Seriously he's not." Merton tried to help.

"You're the kid who's room they raided this morning." The guard laughed. "I'm supposed to believe you?"

Merton fumed, and scowled at the guard.

"I don't know what happened this damn town," Merton was getting pretty angry, he never cursed. "Have Tommy or Cassandra ever done anything bad? No! I don't see what you're defending everyone from. The people that attacked last night were not like Tommy and Cass. They were plain evil. That's why they're called: The Evil Werewolf Syndicate! This damn town is to caught up on legends about bad werewolves, and evil monsters. I mean, sure we do seem to attract a fair amount of demons, vampires and all out hell hounds, but that doesn't mean a thing!" Merton took a breath and sat down. I'd never seen him stand up to someone like that. I was pretty impressed.

"Kid I told you, I'm not gonna listen to you, you're an accomplice."

"Do you have something against Goths? Just cause I dress all in black and have a fair amount of knowledge about the dark arts and the dark creatures doesn't mean I'm a bad kid."

The guard looked taken aback. I guess he'd never been spoken to like that.

"He's right." I joined Merton, feeling more like my old self. "He's a great friend, and he's right about me too. I'm not evil." I grinned at Merton. "We're getting outa here."

"He's back." Merton laughed.

"I'm not letting you anywhere." The guard held the gun steady.

I grabbed the gun and bent in, then handed it back to him. 

"Toodles." Merton smiled at the guard as we left.

~

(A/n- I'm leaving you here, because I must go to the doctor. Every one thinks I've got mononucleosis. Well I'll see you soon.)

-Loonybin

~ 


	3. 

"Hand me another

"Hand me another." I said. Merton gave me another pebble. I through it up at Cass's window. There was still no answer. Merton threw one.

"Oops." Merton said as the window shattered. Well it got her attention at least.

"What the…"Cass came to her window and looked around.

"Down here." I called.

"Tommy!" She wore another devil smile. Before we knew it she was jumping from her third floor bedroom to the grass where we stood. Some how she landed on her feet.

"Merton, I'm so glad you're ok." She grinned at seeing him. "Ok boys, where're we going? I've been waiting for an excuse to escape."

"Do you jump from windows all the time?" I asked.

"Of course." She said kissing me on my rather furry cheek.

"For some one who's on house arrest you're in a really good mood." Observed Merton.

"You boys've just saved me from watching Spice World with my sister for the 14th time." Cass ran into her backyard forest ahead of us. "She just doesn't get it yet that they've broken up, and that Scary Spice isn't exactly the best black role model to have."

"You didn't hear did you?" I glanced at her.

"What." She stopped running ahead.

Merton and I explained to her about all the damage reports, and causalities we'd heard. She calmed down after hearing this. The smile left her face.

"They think that was us?" she asked, completely sobered. "But…?"

"But nothing, our reps are so busted." Merton said firmly.

"Why were you in the chem. lab anyway?" I asked.

"These." Cass sat down on a log and pulled something out of her pocket. "I finished the antidote, not that it's that important now that everyone knows. But if TnT weren't so smart then it might slow the town down. Y'know maybe get that 'All werewolves are evil' thing out of their heads." She toyed with the small capsules in her hand. "I guess what happened was last night was sorta my fault, I shouldn't have pressed for it like I did."

"It wasn't your fault." I said. "we agreed to it."

"I can't believe twenty people were killed." She went on. "Are they sure that was right?"

"uh, huh." Said Merton sullenly. "I wonder what they're gonna think when they realized we've gotten away."

"Probably that we're all deranged and highly armed." I said grinning.

"Bitter and violent." Volunteered Cass.

"All out awful." Merton grinned.

~

I tried, unsuccessfully, to sneak through a window to get back in. But Dean our 24/7-security alarm caught me.

"Trying to sneak in little bro?" he asked with out turning.

"Uh, yeah, guess so." I said sheepishly.

"Eddie just did the same thing." Dean went on. "Laura and Steve were covering for him, but Carl still found out."

"Oh." I pretended to be interested as Dean explained the rest of what had happened. "Is that guard still in the kitchen?"

"Yup, he's a mean one too," he said. "asked him to bring me a sandwich and he just ignored me."

I rolled my eyes and got up. Got up just as the door bell rang.

"Tommy, can you get that?" Dean grunted. I'd expected the guard to come running, but he must not have heard it, so I went over to the window and looked out. about ten people dressed in what seemed to be white lab coats. They all held metal cases in one hand and pens in the other.

"Who is it?" asked Dean as the bell rang again.

I was not letting those people in. I knew that for sure. It was more than enough to be Merton's werewolf guinea pig. Being theirs was not an option. The question was, how to get them to leave. The bell rang again.

"I'm missing the opening of Fresh Prince, let them in so they stop ringing the bell." Said Dean impatiently.

"I'll be upstairs." I bid Dean good bye and hurried up to my room. 

~

My dad came home soon after I'd ran upstairs away from the door. He let in the scientists (turns out that they actually were scientists/doctors). They were now sitting down in the dining room waiting for me to come down stairs. 

"Tommy, come down stairs." My dad was calling from the bottom of the stairs.

I stayed on my bed playing my game boy ignoring him.

"Tommy I'm not gonna ask you again! They might have a way to cure you." My dad tried to sound encouraging. It wasn't working. The last encounter I'd had with someone who claimed that they could cure me had not gone so well. I'd almost ended up dying, so you can understand why I wasn't so prone to trust the people down in my dining room. Then there was the fact that they were assuming that I wanted to be helped, maybe I wanted to stay a werewolf. They didn't know what I wanted. And besides it seemed like betraying Merton; anyone with a brain knew that he wanted to be the ones to finally find a way to cure Cass and I. 

"Thomas Dawkins, get down here right now" Full name. This usually meant I was about to get into big trouble. In order to avoid this I clicked off my Gameboy and headed down to the dining room. There sat my dad and all of the scientists.

"This is Tommy." He introduced me to the people at the table. The scientists all nodded.

"I really appreciate this." I said trying to be polite. "But I'm not really sure I want to be helped."

"Nonsense." Dad said quickly. 

"No, seriously." I said. "Last time someone tried to help me I almost died. And hey Merton's doing pretty well so far, so thanks and all but…"

"Sit down, don't be nervous." One of the scientists pushed me down into a chair.

"Ok, obviously you're not hearing me." I stood back up. "Thanks but no thanks. I've already got someone working on my case. Merton might not have a PhD but he knows what he's doing. I don't think you do." I said the last part while looking at a stun gun that was edging out of one of their pockets.

"He's probably overly stressed." One of the doctors diagnosed. "Get some bed rest son, we'll be back around tomorrow." 

"I won't." I muttered escaping out of the room. 

The doctor turned to the rest of the team. "Ok, Cassandra Black next."

I laughed and turned back towardsthem. "Cass has been through only about half as much as me, but she's gonna give you about a tenth of the courtesy I gave you."

One of then raised their eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

I sighed. "In other words, prepare to have your asses kicked out of her house."

~

The next day I kept watch out of my bedroom window. When I saw the team of doctors coming I pulled a Cass and leaped from my window to the side yard. Then I took the route through the forest to Merton's place.

"Hey." I said walking in. Merton wasn't there, but Lori was. she was sitting by the TV.

"I haven't seen you since the dance!" she exclaimed.

"Where's Merton?" I asked.

"He's in the bathroom. Be nice to him, he's really depressed right now." She warned. "Look at the lair." 

I looked around. Almost every thing was gone. The room looked almost normal.

"Hey Tommy." I looked up. Merton entered the room slowly.

"Your Lair…" I looked around again. "What happened?"

"They came back this morning." Merton said lowly. "With a warrant."

"Why?"

"They've decided that we told the syndicate to attack like that. They've also decided that every weird thing that's happened in this town was because of us." Merton sat down in front of his computer. "This is one whack little town." He grumbled. "Do you know how much some of that stuff was worth, and some of those books meant a lot to me."

I scanned his bookshelves; they'd been almost stripped clean. "They took all your werewolf stuff?" I asked in disbelief. "All your super-natural stuff?"

"They said I can get it back when this thing blows over." Merton gave a small, sad laugh. "Right! I bet they're having a bond fire right now. I mean I sorta understand them taking my weapons, but the books?"

"Isn't a warrant only for searching?" asked Lori. "Not confiscating."

"If they've got good reason to believe that you're doing something illegal then they can confiscate all they want." Merton scowled. "It's a stupid town law. I told you this town was whack."

There've been a bunch of scientists at my house trying to study me lately." I changed the subject, trying to get Merton to stop frowning. 

"I hope you're not letting them." Said Lori. "They've got no business doing that."

"No shit Sherlock." I said sarcastically. "They weren't to happy about it either. That's why I'm here. I had to get away. They should be at Cass's now."

As if on cue we heard a clunk on the door. It flew open almost going of the hinges. There stood Cass, wolfed out and extremely angry. She was fuming, and we could practically see smoke come out of her ears.

"Those bastards!" she practically screamed. "Stun guns! They had stun guns! They tried to immobilize me with stun guns! Just cause I didn't want to be their precious little lab rat."

"Remember your blood pressure dear." Lori said laughing.

"You think this is funny?" Cass turned on Lori. "They just wouldn't leave. I told them nicely the first few times, then finally I had to practically throw them out door."

We just stared at her. She glared back, only calming down a little.

"Why don't you sit down." Merton finally suggested. She stormed past him, and sat next to Lori on the couch.

"She's really pissed." Merton whispered to me.

"I heard that!" She stood up again and headed for the cabinet that usually held the swords and wooden stakes. She pulled it open, and reached in. she looked very surprised when she came out with nothing.

"What happened?" she calmed down only the slightest bit.

Merton explained every thing about the police and the warrant. When he was done Cass looked even more angry (if that was possible). 

"They took all your stuff?" She bared her fangs, and ran her tongue across them. I could tell she was thinking about using them.

"How about you _lie _down this time." Merton led her over to his bed. "Try wolfing down while you're at it. It might help."

~

"Thomas Dawkins," My mom glared at me. "Where were you this afternoon?"

"Merton's Lair." I figured lying probably wouldn't help.

"You're supposed to stay inside the house." She sighed. "You're old enough to know what house-arrest means. Just because we don't approve of it doesn't mean you don't have to follow it."

"I'm not going to be studied by some people I don't know." I protested.

"They want to help you."

"Supposedly so did Professor Fleugulhof (a/n- I have absolutely no idea how so spell that damn man's name), and look what happened there." I said.

"Who…?" My mom started.

"Never mind. The point is I don't want to be helped."

"But the town…" I stopped her again.

"I don't give a flying f*** about what the town thinks." I shook my head. "I really don't."

"So you want to carry this curse for ever?" My mom looked astonished.

"Yes, I mean no… I don't know. the point is I don't want that team studying me. One person is allowed to study me, and that's Merton."

The next day I learned that I won that battle. The doctors didn't come back to my house, nor to Cass's. But more battles were to come.

~

School. Monday. Yuck. My parents were making me go. So were Merton's, Lori's and Cass's. I repeat, yuck. Usually I'm not the type of guy to be afraid of facing school, but today was defiantly a different story.

Merton and I got there pretty early. Made minimal contact with anybody. So far so good. It was around homeroom that things started to get bad. One, upon walking in I could three of the doctors that had been at my house sitting in the back of the room. When Merton and I sat down one of the doctors came over to talk to us.

"You must be Merton Dingle." The doctor held out his hand to shake. Merton took it nervously, also noticing the stun gun in his pocket.

"I'm Doctor Smith. I was wondering if we could maybe have access to your werewolf research." The doctor continued.

Merton's features immediately clouded over in anger. "The town took it all. You'll have to talk to them."

Doctor Smith looked upset. "They took it all? Well do you remember anything?"

"Plenty." Merton smiled. "But I'm not telling you any of it. Bye now."

The doctor looked miffed, but headed toward the back of the room.

"Thanks man." I said looking at Merton.

"No prob." Merton got an insane look on his face. "I'm not letting anyone else study you and Cass. I'm going to win the Nobel Peace Prize with you! Me! you hear? Me!"

The few students that were streaming into homeroom gave Merton weird looks (well actually weirder looks than he was already getting). Soon the bell rang and the teacher cam in from her hall monitoring. Lori slipped in just as she started taking attendance.

"Lori Baxter." The teacher called. 

"Here." She said. Murmurs swept through the class.

"Tommy Dawkins." I noticed that the teacher sorta choked my name out.

"Here." 

"Merton Dingle." She now looked like she wanted to spaz out.

"Here." Merton said aloud. "Unfortunately." He added this last part a bit quieter.

Net morning announcements came on.

"There will be a team of doctor joining us for the remainder of the week. Please let them work as needed." The principal blared. I groaned. Lori passed me a sympathetic look, and Merton got that crazed look in his eye.

(A/n- I'm really pumping these out quickly! The next part will be out by about Friday. Oh, yeah, I'm not sick Yea!!!)

-Loonybin


	4. The Last Chapter (I know, I've got the m...

~

~

"May I have your attention please!" Becky Dingle stood on top of the cafeteria table screeching. "Everyone, over here."

We all turned to look.

"This is just a small announcement." She yelled. "Merton Dingle is not my brother. I'll say it again, he's not my brother!"

"Oh brother!" Cass rolled her eyes laughing.

Merton grinned and stood atop our own table. "Becky Dingle is my sister! I repeat, she is my sister!"

He got down quickly still smiling. "Just another way to ruin her life."

Becky looked mortified. Her head was face down on a table. Her friends were laughing and giggling.

"Are TnT here today?" asked Lori.

"Over there." I indicated where they sat basking in fame.

"Thanks Tommy." Cass got up. "I'll be right back."

"Lori what do you know about this?" Merton looked at her suspiciously.

"Is she about to wolf out in front of the whole school?" I asked.

"No." said Lori reassuringly. "We're just gonna de-smarten TnT."

Cass came back grinning triumphantly. "They really aren't all that smart. I slipped the pills in their drinks and they didn't even see them. They'll be dumb as normal by next period."

"One problem down." Merton said. "about a gazillion more to go."

"Cheer up." Lori wrapped her arm around Merton's shoulder. "With TnT out of our way the rest should be a piece of cake."

"We deal with those freaky scientist guys first." I pointed towards a small table in the back where two of them were sitting. "They're following us."

"Tell the principal they've got guns." Merton suggested. "after all stun guns are a form of guns."

"The office probably already knows what type of equipment they've got, and they probably don't care." Said Cass menacingly. "They probably don't care if they have it to use on us."

~

Cass's antidote worked. TnT were stupid by the end of the day. Not that it mattered anymore.

When the last period bell rang Merton and I rushed out of class as quickly as possible. We went to our lockers then met Cass at hers.

"Hey Cass." Said Merton.

"You make me want to throw my pager out the window, tell MCI to cut the phone polls, break my leash so I can move, 'cause you a bugaboo, a bugaboo." She sang softly to her self.

"Uh, hello?" I waved my hand in front of her face.

"A bugaboo, a bugaboo." She muttered shutting her locker.

"Are we having a Destiny's Child convention here?" asked Merton sarcastically.

"Huh," Cass jumped up. "Oh, it's you guys."

"Ok where's Beyonce?" I asked grinning.

"Very funny." Cass pointed behind her. "Those freakin' scientists are following me. It kinda reminded me of that song."

"They're on the move." Said Merton. "They're trying their hardest to blend in. It's not working. They look like they've come right out of 'Leave It To Beaver'."

Merton was right. They were all dressed like total nerds. Pocket protectors were stuck in each pocket, and thick bottle like lenses were perched on their noses. And they all had that shiny slicked back hair.

"Let's loose 'em." Lori came up grinning devilishly.

"Ya think?" asked Cass dryly as she started down the hall, making a sharp turn to the right trying to shake the doctors. We all ran to catch up. Cass was standing by an open window when we reached her.

"After you." She gestured towards the open window.

"Are you suicidal?" Merton gave her an are-you-crazy look. "We're three stories up!"

"He's got a really good point." I said backing away.

"I second that." Said Lori also moving back.

"I'll meet you by Merton's car." She swung her legs over the ledge and jumped. When we heard a thump on the ground we looked down. Cass stood there dusting herself off as if she'd done nothing. She'd landed on her feet--again.

"How does she do that?" asked Merton in awe.

"She says she does it a lot. Probably practice." I said.

"How ever she does it doesn't matter." Said Lori. "What matters is that we get out of here."

Merton, Lori and I took the _normal_ way down to the parking lot (y'know we actually used the stairs) and Met Cass by Merton's hearse. She was sitting causualy on the hood of the car, unhurt and un-phased from her flight out of the window.

"Ready? I'm too lazy to walk today." She paused. "Actually I'm probably more concerned about getting abducted off the streets by those doctors."

"They promised they wouldn't study us at home anymore." I recalled. "I guess that didn't mean school."

Cass swung around into the front seat. "Merton, c'mon the stalkers are coming."

"You guys coming?" Merton offered.

Lori got into the back seat, but I passed. Merton shrugged and started to drive off. I left the parking lot taking the main road back home.

About ten minutes into my walk I heard a horn honk from behind me. I turned startled. An old Toyota was parked. A man stepped out and hurried towards me. I didn't recognize him at first, but then I realized it was my football coach. The look on his face was not a happy one.

"Tommy I have what could be some upsetting news.." He said when he caught up to me.

"Hi coach." I said. I sorta had a feeling about what was coming next.

"We um," he continued. "Well the school has decided that, uh, in light of your 'condition' we can't let you play on the team anymore."

I'd been expecting that. See I figure they can't let someone with superhuman strength play against other teams. 

"Oh." I said trying not to sound to upset.

"I hope you understand." He said hurriedly. "It just isn't fair to the other teams."

"Yeah, sure." I walked away. 

He stared at me for a second then turned and went back to his car. 

"Wonderful." I made a detour towards the woods. "Just great."

As soon as I was in the denser part I wolfed out in anger, and started kicking basically what ever was in my path. 

"What's next?" I called to air. "Am I going to have to go to some government lab in D.C?"

"I hope not, because they'd most likely take me to."

"Cass?" I turned facing her.

"You look upset." She looked me over.

"So do you." She wasn't completely transformed, just her ears and her teeth. "What happened?"

"Two things." She sighed angrily. "One, I just got kicked off the soccer team."

"You too?" I asked sympathetically.

"You're off the football team?" she asked me.

"Yup." I didn't go into it. "So what else is wrong?"

"Oh!" she immediately looked serious again. "The town has decided to get rid on the Evil Werewolf Syndicate."

"What…" I interrupted.

"Let me finish." She held up a hand. "They're on their way now, and this time they've brought lots more stuff with them. And get this… they tried to hire Merton to help them 'cause they figured he knows the most about this sorta thing. That really pissed me off. Anyway Merton and Lori are on their way now. As much as I hate the syndicate I think we should warn them so the towns population doesn't go down another thirty-three. We can get there before the town does, and you know it." She looked at me for a reaction.

"We can't do that!" I protested. "We'll end up getting killed because the town'll think we sided with them."

"True that, but…" Cass ran her fingers through her hair. "we have a responsibility, to the town, and to the syndicate."

"Say what?!" I exclaimed.

"You heard me." she looked me dead in the eye. "we've got a responsibility to the both of 'em. To the town, because we live here, and to the syndicate because…because they're like us. They're about to be cornered and halfway taken out."

"Cass are you alright?"

"Tommy!" she said. "I'm not saying help the syndicate because we're they're friends. I'm saying warn them because what happened to us is what's about to happen to them. Now get your ass up off that log and come with me."

~

"Last time I was here with a girlfriend she ender up turning evil." I muttered. Cass ignored me and banged on the castle door again. 

"Who is it?" a friendly voice rang out.

"maybe we've got the wrong castle." Said Cass.

"No, that's the, em, 'receptionist'." I told her trying to keep from laughing.

One of the large wooden doors opened a little. The 'receptionist' stuck his head out.

"I know you!" he said loudly. "You're…"

"Shh!" I hissed. "Just listen to us."

"There's a very large mob headed your way." Cass told him.

"Again?" he looked concerned. "we've still got left overs from the last mob."

Cass turned a bit green. "listen we just came to warn you, because we figured it would be a decent thing to do. We also wanted to say… don't hurt them."

Cass turned and headed away from the castle. The other werewolf shut the door and I followed Cass down the stone steps.

"Ok that didn't do any good." She said sullenly.

"I won't say I told you so."

"If you do you may end up with a broken jaw." She threatened. "Lets get out of here. It gives me the creeps."

"How about we hide in the bushes." I suggested. "That way we can help incase anything too damaging happens."

"Sure." Cass headed towards a clump of shrubs, but then stopped and started at approaching headlights. "Here comes Merton and Lori."

The hearse skidded to a stop about twenty yards away from us. Lori jumped out, but Merton stayed in the car and backed it far into the woods so no one could see it.

"The mob'll be here in less than five minutes." Said Lori and Merton together.

Cass and I led them to the shrubs. We all ducked behind them.

"Here they come." I pointed to the crowd coming up the road. Not surprisingly TnT were in the lead. Even with out their smarts they still had a passion for abolishing werewolves. They all marched straight up to the door. In the back of the procession I saw large cranes equipped with wrecking balls the size of trucks. Travis Eckert banged his huge fist on the front door of the castle. Unfortunately for them…it opened.

Twenty fully transformed (and very angry) werewolves came pouring out of the castle. They stood lined up ready to defend themselves.

"Look it's Corley." Lori whispered. She indicated a werewolf standing among the twenty. She'd been one of the thirteen reported missing from the last attack.

"And there's Andrew." Cass grimaced. "The rest are probably inside as backup."

"Attack." Someone stupidly yelled. The two sides merged suddenly into one big clump. There were screams, yells, cries, and other noises of 'get me the hell outa here'. Though they were less in numbers the syndicate defiantly had the advantage. Even when the mob moved to let their wrecking balls through the syndicate was still winning. People from Pleasantville were falling all over the place.

"So much for 'don't hurt them'." Muttered Cass.

"Well did you expect them to listen?" asked Merton.

"Shut up." Cass growled.

"Should we go in?" I asked.

"Are you insane?" Merton hissed. "This is just like the episode of Xena when Joxer was killed!"

"What happened?" asked Lori.

"Well it was stupid move for the writers to make seeing as Joxer was one of the best characters on the show…"

"No what happened in the show!" Lori, Cass and I all said at the same time.

"Well Joxer was at the sidelines trying to stay away from the battle, but then he decided to charge in. He ended up being killed by the most powerful person on the field!"

"As I recall Joxer was the show idiot." Said Cass dryly. "I think we have more sense than he does."

We heard a scream. I turned, a girl named Gwen had fallen.

"Oh now it's personal." Lori stood. "That was one of my best friends."

"I'll stay here." Volunteered Merton. "After all someone's gotta watch the car."

"Sure Merton." Cass smiled kindly at him, then rushed out of the bushes and straight into the fight. Next went Lori who ran straight to Gwen and dragged her out of the path of the fighting. Merton nudged me encouragingly and I stepped out of the bushes. I looked around for a place to start. Finally I decided on saving another one of my fellow students.

Us entering the battle didn't help much but it turned the tides…a little.

~

Turned the tides…on us.

~

(A/n- Muwhahahahaha! Total cliffhanger! I love it! The next part is already written, but it sorta spoils the effect if I give it to you all in one serving. Am I correct? So when reviews start coming in and I'm aware that people have read this part I'll post the next part. Oh yeah, Thank you soooo much Phoenix!!!)

~

"You will not leave this house, will not leave this room, will not communicate with anyone out side this house." The town prosecutor glared at me. I felt like ripping him apart.

"Is that clear?" he asked, pacing around my room.

"Yes sir." I refused to look at him.

He snapped his fingers and the mechanic that stood behind him pulled the plug from my phone. Then they both left my room. I heard the prosecutor talking to my parents down stairs.

Maybe I should explain. See the town 'assumed' we were responsible for the syndicate being so prepared. We were of course, but the town thought we'd tried to kill more of the citizens, which we hadn't. It was all because we'd joined the fight. All because we'd tried to help. Sometimes I hate my life.

"You've got mail." I heard my computer's Madonna voice say. Maybe Merton was right, this town was whack. They told me not to contact anyone out side the house, yet they didn't disconnect my AOL service. Stupid, just plain stupid. 

I sat down and clicked on the mail-box. It was from Merton, to Me, Lori and Cass. I read it, more like skimmed it. Basically he was complaining about being locked up, and about how Pleasantville was stupid. I shut it rolling my eyes.

"Can't leave the room." I muttered to myself in anger. "what kind of shit is this?!"

A message appeared on the screen. ****

**Dark_Chain has sent you an IM. Would you like to accept and reply?**

I didn't know anyone named Dark_Chain but my curiosity got the better of me. I clicked accept.

_Dark_Chain: The syndicate can help you and Cassandra, Tommy._

I read the message, doing a double take. How did the syndicate know my screen name? When I didn't reply Dark_Chain tried again.

_Dark_Chain: We could make them forget all about you. Or we could plan for you to say… disappear, eh?_

I clicked the block button and signed off. I didn't want to get anymore from them. I heard someone in the hallway right out side my door. It sounded as if they were working on something. They stood up, and a sudden ringing blasted through the hall.

"What the hell!" I cried covering my ears. But I knew what it was, and this was the last straw. I was tiered of it, sick and tired of it. Sick of the way people were treating us, and I wanted out. There were guards posted out side of my window and my door, no options for escape except… I turned longingly towards my computer. 

I could take the biggest risk possible, or live a life of punishment and arrest. Risk sounded better. Risk. Possible death, betrayal, jail. I sat down at my computer and logged back onto AOL. Member find told me that Dark_Chain was still on. I double clicked on his name, setting up an IM.

_Qback8463: I accept, I don't know about Cass, but I accept._

I typed slowly, but fast enough so that I wouldn't change my mind. I'd given up. I waited for a reply, time seemed to go in slow motion until the words came onto the screen.

_Dark_Chain: Meet me in the forest close to the clearing by Cassandra's house. E-mail Cassandra and tell her to meet you there. I have no doubt that you will somehow be able to sneak out._

I bit my lip while reading the message, then quickly I composed a message to Kicker_Chick telling her where to meet me. I didn't mention why. Then I sat back on my bed trying to figure out how to escape.

~

Cass was there, waiting patiently. There was no sign of any syndicate member. Cass just stood there alone, looking worried, and a little scared.

"Cass." I said walking up to her.

"Tommy." She flung her arms around my shoulders. "I…"

I stopped her, shaking my head. "You're going to kill me when I tell you what I called you here for."

"It can't be as bad as what's happened." She said.

"I made a deal with the syndicate." I said bluntly, still holding her.

"Tommy?" she looked up at me. "What did you do?"

"I've given up on the town. We're obviously hated. The syndicate offered to take us away."

She squirmed away from me frowning. "You gave up? You mean, you told the syndicate you'd actually go with them?"

"Yes." I closed my eyes for a second. "I wanted to meet you here to know if you're coming?"

"Coming with…" she stopped herself. "Tommy, I can't just run away. I've got plans for my life, and I can't run. Even with you."

I just started at her, and she went on.

"I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to stay here, and when this is all over I'm going back to my normal life. I couldn't run, much less with the syndicate. Am I correct in remembering that they tried to kill us?"

"It could be different?" I said still staring. "Cass, please."

"Don't say please." She kissed me on the cheek, and started back towards her house. "I can't."

"So you're just gonna continued to be blamed for everything that goes on around here? Going to be blamed for every thing?"

"Running away would let them know that they won!" she whirled back around. 

"No it wouldn't!" I protested. "It would just give us a better life."

"He knows what he's talking about." Said a voice to my side. Cass and I both looked. It was another teenager turned werewolf.

"Joel." Cass nodded towards him.

"Are you two coming?" He asked.

I looked at Cass who was looking between her house and us. I saw tears falling down her cheeks.

"I can't leave every thing." She said. "I had my life all planed out. I was going to graduate, go to college, play soccer. It isn't fair."

"You can come back when they've forgotten, or they decide we're not all bad." I told her. "You can do every thing then. I promise."

She slowly made her way back over to me. I felt her hand slip into mine.

"Don't promise me anything." She said quietly.

"We're going." I told Joel. He smirked, and led us away through the forest. Away to someplace safe.

~

(A/n- I have no idea where they went. But it really doesn't matter because that was the last chapter. Now for some 'splaining, this story did not really happen in my story series, it's just something I felt like writing. My next story will fall in line with my other two stories, and one day maybe I'll write a sequel for this.)


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